


A July First

by RedfieldandNivans



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Couch Cuddles, M/M, Making Piers Feel Better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-01
Updated: 2014-07-01
Packaged: 2018-02-07 01:54:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1880697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedfieldandNivans/pseuds/RedfieldandNivans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A year after surviving the Underwater Facility, Piers is feeling a little down and Chris shows up to cheer up the sniper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A July First

6am had rolled around and instead of getting out of bed like normal and going through the motions of his usual routine, Piers unplugged his alarm clock and called in sick. The officer he’d talked to over the phone had seemed surprised, and for good reason. Piers never called in sick – even when he was. He never missed a day of work or training unless he was on a mission. There were no weekends or holidays for Piers Nivans – If he couldn’t train on base, he did it at home.

Things had started to change ever since he’d come back alive from the underwater facility a year ago; that mission that he hadn’t expected to come home from. He’d gone through so much since then: recovery, rehabilitation, regaining the trust that his circumstances had broken. It wasn’t easy – it never was, but he had persevered and pushed himself and today, exactly one year later, he was better. Sure there were scars and he still had some trouble with his right eye, but he was alive and healthy, and really didn’t feel like going to work.

One year. A full 365 days had passed and Piers rolled over in bed taking the blankets with him and cocooning himself in them. He was tired. Tired of trying so hard and getting nothing back. He had been prepared to give his life for the B.S.A.A and there were people who still didn’t trust him because of it. He didn’t care most days; those were just obstacles that he had to overcome and he didn’t let them push him down. He may have been damaged but he wasn’t useless yet, and if he had to work five times harder than the average soldier to prove that then he would do it without blinking.

Except today. Today, Piers Nivans was tired. Considering that it was the 1st of July, he figured that yes, he was allowed to be tired today.

The day crept on and Piers finally rolled out of bed, made coffee and puttered around the tiny apartment he called home. He was trying his best to occupy himself so he wouldn’t think too much on things that could have been. Things like what would have happened if he hadn’t made it out alive? Or what if he had been weaker and hadn’t been able to fight the virus for as long as he had? What if the vaccine hadn’t been strong enough to help him? What would have happened if he’d survived, but gone feral? There was still that possibility – it was a constant lingering doubt in the back of his mind. If he’d died in that underwater facility fighting HAOS, would Chris have kept going? Would he have quit the B.S.A.A.?

Would things have been better if he hadn’t survived? There was always that thought, too. HQ expended so much time and energy keeping him grounded on home soil. Piers wasn’t actually allowed to go on missions yet even though he volunteered every time something came up. No one trusted him. His superiors, doctors and fellow soldiers all seemed to be waiting for him to either snap or prove that the virus wasn’t under control. It was as though everyone was waiting for him to become _Albert Wesker_

 “Tch.”

The worst was that Piers wasn’t sure which side of the tracks Chris stood on either. His former Captain was there to support him when he needed it and they _had_ gotten fairly close during this last year, but they never talked about this. It was taboo – he was convinced that Chris just wanted to forget it ever happened and he didn’t blame the man. Piers wanted to forget it too but he saw it every day in the scars on his skin.

So, as he puttered around his apartment, Piers thought about sending Chris a text or calling the guy, and managed to do none of the above. His phone sat unused on the counter in the kitchen. Unlike him, Chris was busy – HQ sent him out on missions every so often and every time they sent him off, Piers wished that they’d let him go, too.  He hated feeling useless.

A persistent knock at the door caught him off guard and Piers hesitated. It was probably someone from HQ come to check on him – couldn’t have a sick _and_ infected soldier on the loose, could they? He wasn’t greeted by the unfamiliar face he had expected. Instead, there stood Chris Redfield and Piers didn’t know how he was supposed to react. Usually, Chris called before he showed up, not to mention that last he’d heard, Chris was supposed to be on a mission in the UK.

“Are you just going to stare at me or are you going to let me in?”

 “Uh- Right.” Piers snapped out of his daze and moved aside, letting the larger man into his apartment before shutting the door. Chris went straight for the kitchen, dropping everything he was holding onto the counter. Piers followed him, successfully distracted from whatever he’d been thinking about earlier.

“Aren’t you...?”

“Supposed to be in England? I was, mission just finished quicker than I thought. Why? Got some hot date coming over? Should I take off?”

It took a second or two for Piers to register what Chris had said, and he frowned as if that mere suggestion was completely absurd. “No.” Piers wanted to think that Chris knew what day it was and that his former Captain had put extra effort into making sure that he was here, but that was stupid. They were close, but Piers was sure that Chris had more important things to think about than some stupid anniversary of _almost_ dying. “I’m just surprised that you’re here. I mean usually you call first. How’d you know I’d be home?”

Chris shrugged but didn’t exactly answer. “Just did. Now-“ He started unpacking the bag that he’d carried into the apartment with him. “I brought some Thai, but I couldn’t remember if you actually liked it or not so we can just order something else later if you want.” He unpacked a couple small boxes of noodles and set a 6-pack of beer down next to them. “Drinks, and this.” The last thing out of the bag was a movie; some new hit that Piers had seen trailers for on tv. “Explosions and mindless action, sounds good right?”

Piers’ surprise melted away in favor of a genuinely happy smile. “Yeah. Actually, it really does.”

It wasn’t quite late enough to be considered dinnertime, but that didn’t stop them from digging into the Thai noodles and cracking open a beer. Chris worked the DVD player while Piers got himself comfortable on the couch and when everything was set the Alpha Team Captain dropped into the empty space beside the sniper. Chris had his feet up on the coffee table as soon as his ass touched the couch cushion and no matter how much Piers complained about it Chris didn’t move them.

They sat through all the previews, deciding which upcoming movies they’d be willing to sit and watch and which ones were just too ridiculous to spend money on. They commented on actors and who would have been a better choice to play which part in which movie and laughed about how stupid movies were getting these days. When the previews ended they settled into a comfortable silence; Piers picked at what was left of his noodles and Chris took the last few sips of his beer.

Just like Chris had promised the movie was full of fiery explosions and mindless action. The plot was easy to follow – mostly because there wasn’t one, and the characters left much to be desired. Cleary, the movie’s budget had been spent on special effects, rather than the actors. Despite all the above, Piers was enjoying himself. Chris had stretched an arm across the back of the couch at some point during the movie and the sniper was more than okay with it.

Piers enjoyed his former Captain’s company a lot. Chris had a way of making him forget all the what-ifs. He helped remind Piers of why he had made that decision a year ago at the bottom of Neo-Umbrella’s underwater facility.

Maybe Chris knew that without needing Piers to say it.

The sniper shimmied closer and the Captain smirked before dropping his arm from the back of the couch to stretch across Piers’ shoulders.

“Feeling any better?” 

Piers hesitated, realizing his partner knew he’d been feeling a little depressed. He nodded after a moment. “Yeah, actually. A lot.”

Today really wasn’t so bad, despite the landmark it represented and Piers figured he could live through another 1st of July if Chris was around to help him through it.

Chris shifted a little, pulling Piers a little closer to him and kissed the top of the snipers head absently, still watching the show playing across the tv. Piers smiled. Yeah, today wasn’t so bad at all.


End file.
